file command failed to detect some mime types

["J. Bakshi" <bakshi12@gmail.com>]

Dear list,

I'm using "file -bi" command to check the mime types of files; specially for
.xls and .doc . It is running well on my local debian box. But the detection is 
not working at all on a remote server having file-5.09; don't know the linux distro
on thar serever though. There the command returns just

` ` ` ` ` `
charset=binary

` ` ` ` `

missing the mime types. Could anyone suggest how to debug this issue ?

Thanks